? for Regular "Old" Cruisers Like Me!

[asctony]

4 minutes ago, disgirl said:

@susancruzs  I travel solo and with friends.  We are traditional diners - we have tried and havent enjoyed the anytime dining.  We enjoy the MDR and dont feel the need to eat at the specialty restaurants.  I drink a ton of water and sparkling water, my friends drink specialty coffee.  We do partake in a few adult wobbly pops on the trip (some trips, more than others).  I/we travel with the Plus package.  

 

I also look at the Plus vs the Standard rate and take the difference in the price.

From that difference, I subtract the gratuities and wifi cost.  I will take a bit off for the 2 casual dining as well.  With what is left, I look at as the drink package cost and divide that by the number of days to see if it makes sense for me/us, and the Plus usually is (plus the deposit is refundable which is what we always try to book)

 

For example, my friends and I are booked on an 8 night in March.

Standard was $1300, Plus was $1850, so $550 difference (CAD)

Gratuities are apx $200 (which we would prepay anyway)

Wifi is apx $200 (which we we add anyway and now we get the upgraded one with Plus)

Casual dining is apx $30 (which we may or may not do anyway)

That leaves me with apx $120 which is apx $15 per day for the beverage package - a no brainer to upgrade for our trip.

 

When I cruised to Hawaii last year, the difference was $1600 for 9 nights so it didnt make sense for me.  

 

I hope you have an awesome cruise and enjoy your trip!

Excellent example! 

Anyone who has doubts about buying the Plus or Premium Packages should use your example to figure it out.

We Seniors know a few tricks of the trades.

Thank you from those who won't say how much you have helped them. 

Happy Cruising!

[voljeep]

10 minutes ago, asctony said:

Excellent example! 

Anyone who has doubts about buying the Plus or Premium Packages should use your example to figure it out.

We Seniors know a few tricks of the trades.

Thank you from those who won't say how much you have helped them. 

Happy Cruising!

we 'value' the wifi at $-0- - and still book with PLUS at a minimum 

[Steelers36]

On 8/16/2024 at 3:05 PM, JimmyVWine said:

Adding benefits for the people who want to pay for them does not seem to be significantly impairing the experience of the people who don't want to pay for them.

IDK how many guests book Premier - nor how many more might with the UL SD upgrade - but I'd have to think there will be another increase in demand for SD tables, making it more difficult for us Standard types to snag a spot for a good steak.

[Steelers36]

23 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

You and I aren't remotely their target anymore.

I figure any day now, I will get an email from Princess stating "We're not missing you all that much".

[Thrak]

19 hours ago, memoak said:

On the Grand over the last 2 weeks we shared one pizza 3 times and charcuterie plates at Vines 2 times no charges at all. In fact at Vines they suggest sharing

 

Nice. When we sailed Grand last year they made us each order the full prix fixe meal. There was only one other couple in Alfredo's (it was like a morgue the entire 63 days we were on the ship) but it still took them almost a full hour to get us the appetizers and the pizzas. They seemed shocked when we left without dessert. Not only were we sick of the non-existent service but we had already been served way more food than we were able to eat. I would gladly let them use my prix fixe voucher to provide a single pizza to share without the appetizer and the dessert. One pizza is plenty of food for the two of us.

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

Nice. When we sailed Grand last year they made us each order the full prix fixe meal. There was only one other couple in Alfredo's (it was like a morgue the entire 63 days we were on the ship) but it still took them almost a full hour to get us the appetizers and the pizzas. They seemed shocked when we left without dessert. Not only were we sick of the non-existent service but we had already been served way more food than we were able to eat. I would gladly let them use my prix fixe voucher to provide a single pizza to share without the appetizer and the dessert. One pizza is plenty of food for the two of us.

New captain and new crew. Great attitudes. We never asked how the were going to charge things in Alfredo’s just asked for one salad and one pizza they even split the pizza on 2 plates. Never took more than 45 minutes to eat. We were so impressed we have cancelled our Panama cruise in January and switched to the Grand to Hawaii 

[Astro Flyer]

On 8/16/2024 at 7:07 AM, susancruzs said:

where is this all going, what direction is Princess headed, away from their loyal base or not?

@susancruzs In my opinion, they are moving towards an all-inclusive cruise experience which is not desirable for my style of cruising.

 

Creating new options for those who are willing to pay for the convenience of having packages is good until taking away things from those of us who are standard fare passengers. Gone are the once included options of Alfredo’s/Gigi’s, good internet speeds & now with the New Premier’s unlimited specialty dining that possibility will now be slim or none for us.

 

Being at the elite level of past passenger (there’s nothing elite about me but it’s merely a level reached after many enjoyable days sailing Princess) the elite benefits are enough for my wife & my style of relaxed cruising. However those are being eroded as they cut more benefits in an attempt to push us to packages…ones that will never be cost-effective for me. I’ve read posts suggesting giving a package discount to elite level passengers which could make a package close enough to being cost-effective for us. I’ve read that Celebrity previously strongly pushed more inclusive fares which resulted in losing standard bookings. We didn’t sail with them until standard fares were more readily available.

 

What happens to standard passengers? Keep reducing our cruise experience while creating more of a 3 class of passengers until we stop booking Princess?

 

For me, we’re now occasionally booking Oceania cruises which includes in their fares things we desire…all non-alcoholic drinks, a few specialty dinners, WiFi, twice nightly BOGO drinks and to bring onboard beer, wine & spirits for in cabin consumption. And with their newer SimplyMore fares beer, wine & champagne at lunch & dinner are included. While they cost more when considering all of the included things we desire and their superior food (best since Sitmar in 1988), it’s worth to us. Much more enticing than unlimited premium desserts, unlimited SD, etc. and other new package benefits.

 

For me, Princess provides a better cruise experience for the price paid than on other mass market cruise lines. While the pre-cruise preparation can be challenging (much easier on X and O), the Princess onboard experience is still mostly good for us. However as more things are taken away, Princess is becoming a less desirable option as a 3rd class passenger (still much better than in the USN ☺️).

 

Like you having cruised since 1986, I don’t expect the same cruise experience now particularly as cruise lines struggle to get out of staggering pandemic debt. Price increases are to be expected; a diminished cruise experience except for those who are willing to purchase packages is getting closer to the point of leaving Princess which is sad to us as they move further away from loyal Princess cruisers who feel similarly as me.

 

These are merely my opinions & know that others will feel differently.

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

IDK how many guests book Premier - nor how many more might with the UL SD upgrade - but I'd have to think there will be another increase in demand for SD tables, making it more difficult for us Standard types to snag a spot for a good steak.

It’s really just a matter of timing. For people who can book dining immediately and who will be paying the cover charge, they can (and should) book at the earliest opportunity. The fee is fully refundable and I have been getting credit card reimbursements within 72 hours. 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

13 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

@susancruzs In my opinion, they are moving towards an all-inclusive cruise experience which is not desirable for my style of cruising.

 

Creating new options for those who are willing to pay for the convenience of having packages is good until taking away things from those of us who are standard fare passengers. Gone are the once included options of Alfredo’s/Gigi’s, good internet speeds & now with the New Premier’s unlimited specialty dining that possibility will now be slim or none for us.

 

Being at the elite level of past passenger (there’s nothing elite about me but it’s merely a level reached after many enjoyable days sailing Princess) the elite benefits are enough for my wife & my style of relaxed cruising. However those are being eroded as they cut more benefits in an attempt to push us to packages…ones that will never be cost-effective for me. I’ve read posts suggesting giving a package discount to elite level passengers which could make a package close enough to being cost-effective for us. I’ve read that Celebrity previously strongly pushed more inclusive fares which resulted in losing standard bookings. We didn’t sail with them until standard fares were more readily available.

 

What happens to standard passengers? Keep reducing our cruise experience while creating more of a 3 class of passengers until we stop booking Princess?

 

For me, we’re now occasionally booking Oceania cruises which includes in their fares things we desire…all non-alcoholic drinks, a few specialty dinners, WiFi, twice nightly BOGO drinks and to bring onboard beer, wine & spirits for in cabin consumption. And with their newer SimplyMore fares beer, wine & champagne at lunch & dinner are included. While they cost more when considering all of the included things we desire and their superior food (best since Sitmar in 1988), it’s worth to us. Much more enticing than unlimited premium desserts, unlimited SD, etc. and other new package benefits.

 

For me, Princess provides a better cruise experience for the price paid than on other mass market cruise lines. While the pre-cruise preparation can be challenging (much easier on X and O), the Princess onboard experience is still mostly good for us. However as more things are taken away, Princess is becoming a less desirable option as a 3rd class passenger (still much better than in the USN ☺️).

 

Like you having cruised since 1986, I don’t expect the same cruise experience now particularly as cruise lines struggle to get out of staggering pandemic debt. Price increases are to be expected; a diminished cruise experience except for those who are willing to purchase packages is getting closer to the point of leaving Princess which is sad to us as they move further away from loyal Princess cruisers who feel similarly as me.

 

These are merely my opinions & know that others will feel differently.

 

 

You are probably right.  They would obviously prefer package clients/bookings to standard.  It makes sense to me to reward those that pay more for their vacation.  After all, they are trying to make money/pay down debt.  we either buy packages or alternative types of vacations to maximize value.  Who cares if you are a long time customer.  

[Sprocket]

22 hours ago, memoak said:

If that is the case I will propose having a bunch of folks take premier for a short cruise and using no specialty dinners to jam the MDR would that send them for a loop ?

 

I think that's called biting off your nose to spite your face isn't it lol?

[memoak]

1 minute ago, Sprocket said:

 

I think that's called biting off your nose to spite your face isn't it lol?

No it would show what a mistake the system is. Normally we would only do 2-3 specialty dinners over a 14-21 day cruise

[Retired-N-Happy]

14 hours ago, Mara4166 said:

 Personally I think there are going to be a lot of unhappy premier cruisers if they cannot book into the SD restaurants of their choice at least 2 times a week.

I have 400 in OBC to spend towards the 560 upgrade from Plus to Premier.  It's now 840 to upgrade and I have to wait until we board to utilize the 400.

If we can't get in to the Crown Grill  4 times over our 14 day cruise on the Sun, unhappy will be an understatement.  Ugly American would be more appropriate. Very frustrating that I can spend my OBC before the cruise on an excursion but not a package upgrade.

[cruzsnooze]

On 8/16/2024 at 1:12 PM, 555 said:

Princess obviously is no longer catering to people like you & me. They're after the younger cruiser who has a good job and money to burn on vacation. Sure they'll lose people along the way but in the distant future they'll have gained new clientele to fill in for us. 

Some truth but not all.  Younger families with children will not be filling the ships on longer cruises such as Trans Atlantic.  Younger families will be stuck home when school is in session. Younger people with kids probably have a different budget then retires with time and money to use. Young families may do more land based Disneyland, Sea World, Six Flags Magic Mountain vacations. It would be wise to cater to all ages.

[dog]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

It’s really just a matter of timing. For people who can book dining immediately and who will be paying the cover charge, they can (and should) book at the earliest opportunity. The fee is fully refundable and I have been getting credit card reimbursements within 72 hours. 

There is a new cancellation fee to be announced I hear.  Saw a few posts about $10 cancellation fee or no show fee re: SD.  Also saw post of fb that CA is going up.

 

[DUCHESSRN]

11 minutes ago, dog said:

There is a new cancellation fee to be announced I hear.  Saw a few posts about $10 cancellation fee or no show fee re: SD.  Also saw post of fb that CA is going up.

 

I booked Crown Grill for 9/28 today and yes $10 no show fee .

[Steelers36]

44 minutes ago, dog said:

There is a new cancellation fee to be announced I hear.  Saw a few posts about $10 cancellation fee or no show fee re: SD.  Also saw post of fb that CA is going up.

 

 

32 minutes ago, DUCHESSRN said:

I booked Crown Grill for 9/28 today and yes $10 no show fee .

I'm good with a no-show fee.  I would support a 24-hr cancel policy to avoid the no-show fee as well.

[DUCHESSRN]

48 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

I'm good with a no-show fee.  I would support a 24-hr cancel policy to avoid the no-show fee as well.

I am fine with it , seems fair to me .

[PescadoAmarillo]

On 8/16/2024 at 12:12 PM, memoak said:

I don’t believe they will be able to change the embarkation night dining for suites without an uproar.

I’m not predicting that will happen but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it did. Potential uproars don’t seem to influence Princess decisions at all (let me count the ways) and I can easily see Princess saying that suite guests who enjoy SD are booking Premier so there is no need to include it as a suite perk.

 

 As for predictions, I CAN see the Elite minibar perk disappearing for the same reason. The times they are a-changing. 

[Sprocket]

2 hours ago, dog said:

There is a new cancellation fee to be announced I hear.  Saw a few posts about $10 cancellation fee or no show fee re: SD.  Also saw post of fb that CA is going up.

 

 

I think someone posted it was going up $1 a day?  Is that what you saw?

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I’m not predicting that will happen but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it did. Potential uproars don’t seem to influence Princess decisions at all (let me count the ways) and I can easily see Princess saying that suite guests who enjoy SD are booking Premier so there is no need to include it as a suite perk.

 

 As for predictions, I CAN see the Elite minibar perk disappearing for the same reason. The times they are a-changing. 

It is quite likely if I were booking Suites, I'd probably be able to swing the cost of Premier add-on.  Mere rounding error.  LOL.

 

Perish the thought on the Elite minibar perk going away.  That is part of the reason we don't need Plus.  I would surely miss our 10 beer and 10 Perrier.

[Retired-N-Happy]

11 hours ago, voljeep said:

we 'value' the wifi at $-0- - and still book with PLUS at a minimum 

Our math is simple.  Take the 60 per day minus grats, leaving you with 44.  Consume three 15.00 drinks per day at Crooners or Good Spirits.  You're now ahead of the game.  Soda, water, coffee, wifi and all of the other inclusions are now "gravy" and we're ahead.  

[Cruisemeister2002]

13 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

@susancruzs In my opinion, they are moving towards an all-inclusive cruise experience which is not desirable for my style of cruising.

 

Creating new options for those who are willing to pay for the convenience of having packages is good until taking away things from those of us who are standard fare passengers. Gone are the once included options of Alfredo’s/Gigi’s, good internet speeds & now with the New Premier’s unlimited specialty dining that possibility will now be slim or none for us.

 

Being at the elite level of past passenger (there’s nothing elite about me but it’s merely a level reached after many enjoyable days sailing Princess) the elite benefits are enough for my wife & my style of relaxed cruising. However those are being eroded as they cut more benefits in an attempt to push us to packages…ones that will never be cost-effective for me. I’ve read posts suggesting giving a package discount to elite level passengers which could make a package close enough to being cost-effective for us. I’ve read that Celebrity previously strongly pushed more inclusive fares which resulted in losing standard bookings. We didn’t sail with them until standard fares were more readily available.

 

What happens to standard passengers? Keep reducing our cruise experience while creating more of a 3 class of passengers until we stop booking Princess?

 

For me, we’re now occasionally booking Oceania cruises which includes in their fares things we desire…all non-alcoholic drinks, a few specialty dinners, WiFi, twice nightly BOGO drinks and to bring onboard beer, wine & spirits for in cabin consumption. And with their newer SimplyMore fares beer, wine & champagne at lunch & dinner are included. While they cost more when considering all of the included things we desire and their superior food (best since Sitmar in 1988), it’s worth to us. Much more enticing than unlimited premium desserts, unlimited SD, etc. and other new package benefits.

 

For me, Princess provides a better cruise experience for the price paid than on other mass market cruise lines. While the pre-cruise preparation can be challenging (much easier on X and O), the Princess onboard experience is still mostly good for us. However as more things are taken away, Princess is becoming a less desirable option as a 3rd class passenger (still much better than in the USN ☺️).

 

Like you having cruised since 1986, I don’t expect the same cruise experience now particularly as cruise lines struggle to get out of staggering pandemic debt. Price increases are to be expected; a diminished cruise experience except for those who are willing to purchase packages is getting closer to the point of leaving Princess which is sad to us as they move further away from loyal Princess cruisers who feel similarly as me.

 

These are merely my opinions & know that others will feel differently.

No, I totally agree. I cannot comment that much on Princess as our next cruise with them will be only our second, but due to the many cruises we have also taken with P&O which are taken into account up until 2017 we will be Elite tier on the forthcoming cruise. However what you point out on Princess is/has happened on P&O. If you want it, then you have to pay for it. Whereas many things were included in the fare before. The order of the day seems to be gimmicks to entice passengers into paying more. Having said that for the first time ever we have taken out a Package, the Plus type. But I will monitor it closely as I will our cruise experience because we had an awful cruise onboard P&O's Ventura last year so we jumped ship so to speak and booked one with Princess.

 

 

[dog]

Are all ships including the Premier packages in the suite fare, or is it just the Sun & Star?

[555]

13 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

@susancruzs In my opinion, they are moving towards an all-inclusive cruise experience which is not desirable for my style of cruising.

 

Creating new options for those who are willing to pay for the convenience of having packages is good until taking away things from those of us who are standard fare passengers. Gone are the once included options of Alfredo’s/Gigi’s, good internet speeds & now with the New Premier’s unlimited specialty dining that possibility will now be slim or none for us.

 

Being at the elite level of past passenger (there’s nothing elite about me but it’s merely a level reached after many enjoyable days sailing Princess) the elite benefits are enough for my wife & my style of relaxed cruising. However those are being eroded as they cut more benefits in an attempt to push us to packages…ones that will never be cost-effective for me. I’ve read posts suggesting giving a package discount to elite level passengers which could make a package close enough to being cost-effective for us. I’ve read that Celebrity previously strongly pushed more inclusive fares which resulted in losing standard bookings. We didn’t sail with them until standard fares were more readily available.

 

What happens to standard passengers? Keep reducing our cruise experience while creating more of a 3 class of passengers until we stop booking Princess?

 

For me, we’re now occasionally booking Oceania cruises which includes in their fares things we desire…all non-alcoholic drinks, a few specialty dinners, WiFi, twice nightly BOGO drinks and to bring onboard beer, wine & spirits for in cabin consumption. And with their newer SimplyMore fares beer, wine & champagne at lunch & dinner are included. While they cost more when considering all of the included things we desire and their superior food (best since Sitmar in 1988), it’s worth to us. Much more enticing than unlimited premium desserts, unlimited SD, etc. and other new package benefits.

 

For me, Princess provides a better cruise experience for the price paid than on other mass market cruise lines. While the pre-cruise preparation can be challenging (much easier on X and O), the Princess onboard experience is still mostly good for us. However as more things are taken away, Princess is becoming a less desirable option as a 3rd class passenger (still much better than in the USN ☺️).

 

Like you having cruised since 1986, I don’t expect the same cruise experience now particularly as cruise lines struggle to get out of staggering pandemic debt. Price increases are to be expected; a diminished cruise experience except for those who are willing to purchase packages is getting closer to the point of leaving Princess which is sad to us as they move further away from loyal Princess cruisers who feel similarly as me.

 

These are merely my opinions & know that others will feel differently.

 

 

You post sums it up to a T for us. Princess just keep pushing their packages as being just what we all need, when to fact what Oceania fits our needs much better. 

So we'll lose out on a few things like the setup, MT lunch which was very nice, priority tender service & the hardly used laundry but in the long run Oceania seems to be just what we want in a cruise ship.

 

 

 

8 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

It is quite likely if I were booking Suites, I'd probably be able to swing the cost of Premier add-on.  Mere rounding error.  LOL.

 

Perish the thought on the Elite minibar perk going away.  That is part of the reason we don't need Plus.  I would surely miss our 10 beer and 10 Perrier.

It would surprise me if they do eliminate the room setup as it wouldn't be missed by the large numbers of people with packages.

[dog]

8 hours ago, Sprocket said:

 

I think someone posted it was going up $1 a day?  Is that what you saw?

 

I will wait for announcements from Princess.